Actually in the chair right now waiting for the dentist. Posting will come later. Getting a crown impression for the tooth that was root canaled.
Month: May 2012
Why We Need to Get rid of PICS
See this statement from the PA State Police:
Outages of PICS are common, and far more prevalent than the federal system. This is several days that the people of Pennsylvania will essentially be denied their Second Amendment rights. The State Police has shown they are unable to run a reliable system, that’s respectful to the Constitution rights of its citizens. I think it’s time to end PICS, and switch to using the federal NICS system, which is doesn’t have severe reliability issues.
Rick Scott Refuses to Ban Guns During RNC
USA Today Reports, in what looks like the Mayor of Tampa trying to set up Governor Scott the bomb. I don’t even think Scott has the power to ban firearms unilaterally, does he? Either way, his response is appreciated:
“An absolute ban on possession in an entire neighborhoods and regions would surely violate the 2nd Amendment,” Scott wrote to Buckhorn.
“It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law. It is at just such times that the constitutional right to self-defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach,” Scott said in his letter.
Clearly people’s rights are not of concern for the Mayor of Tampa, so much as scoring cheap political points in an attempt to make something that is not a contentious issue a contentious issue.
Loyalty Day: Creepy
Apparently Barack Obama has made May 1st “Loyalty Day.” Does anyone else fine this creepy? The left points out that Eisenhower did it first, and every President has followed suit. As if had Eisenhower eaten a dog, that would make eating dogs OK. I say it’s time to stop Loyalty Day. I get that it was a knee-jerk anti-communist reaction from the McCarthy era, and today we still have morons who celebrate May day with rioting and attempting to blow things up. Also, given that apparently the educational system has fallen into such a state that kids feel they can call themselves “anarchists” while protesting for bigger government, maybe we should rename today “National Don’t Sleep in Civic’s Class Day.” But this would, of course, presume schools still teach civics.
New Mexico Reciprocity
I saw this statement from the New Mexico DPS in regards to reciprocity, via NRA, and wondered what this was all about. Apparently it has to do with lawsuits filed against them for refusing to issue permits to permanent residents. I don’t see how changing around reciprocity is going to moot that issue.
Vertical Integration
A bit off from our normal topic, but I was quite surprised to hear this morning that the Conoco-Phillips refinery, which has been up for sale, found a buyer, and that buyer is Delta Airlines. The refinery has pipelines going to Philly, JFK and LaGuardia, two of which are Delta hubs. Delta claims this will supply 80% of their domestic fuel needs. Wow. If this works, I wonder if you’ll see other airlines buying their own refineries. Apparently they also have a deal with BP to swap non-jet fuel products for more jet fuel, given that you can’t take crude and make exclusively jet fuel.
It’s partially a fractional distillation process, and you get what’s in the crude, essentially. You can crack your way to lighter hydrocarbons, but can’t go from lighter to heavier. The local angle is, the folks who worked at those refineries will get to stay in business. As the article mentions, refineries have been closing in this area because they are meant to take more expensive sweet crude, and find it difficult to compete with refineries who can deal with heavier, cheaper crude. So what Delta is attempting here is a bit of a risk.
Romney Meeting Bloomberg
A lot of people seem to be making a big deal out of Romney meeting with Bloomberg, and I’ve heard a few speculate that perhaps Bloomberg will be Romney’s VP pick. That gave me a strange sense of Deja Vu. This isn’t something I’d read all that much into. If you’re a Presidential Candidate, and you make a trip to New York City, you’re pretty much obligated to drop in on the mayor. It’s just politeness. Even I wouldn’t turn my nose up at the Mayor, and if I met with him, I’d certainly talk about gun control.
I was initially a lot more concerned about Bork on his judicial advisory committee, but a lot of folks in the comments noted that Alan Gura is also on the committee, and that in DC, these things are mostly a way to signal to different parts of the base. In other words, they are BS.
A New Loophole for the Media: Bullet Buttons
As is well documented in the gun blogosphere a loophole is anything legal that our opponents don’t like. The latest is the bullet button. For those outside of the People’s Republic of California, California’s assault weapons ban defines a magazine as detachable if it cannot be removed, except through use of a tool. The California AG ruled that a punch or screwdriver counts as a tool. Solution? Put a recessed button on the AR magazine release that can’t be depressed except by action of punching it with a tool, or the tip of a loaded cartridge. If a magazine is not legally “detachable,” then it can’t be an assault weapon, no matter how many evil and ugly features you put on it.
“If the bullet button assault weapon is allowed to come into the state then the California assault weapons ban basically doesn’t exist any more,†said Josh Sugarmann with the Violence Policy Center.
Yes, Josh, that’s the whole idea. Your ban is a sham and always has been. We just exposed it as a sham, and engineered around it.
All Shooters are Guilty Until Proven Innocent
George Zimmerman Legal News
Looks like his attorneys have set up a site for news in the George Zimmerman case here. They’ll eventually be accepting donations to his legal defense fund. There were rumors that Zimmerman had raised 200,000 dollars himself, but I don’t know how true those rumors were, of if he can touch those funds at all.